Taunton City Council approves demolition contract to raze Star Theater

The City Council gave their approval on Tuesday for a demolition contract to raze the dilapidated Star Theater next to the Summer Street City Hall building and voted to allot funding for the rehabilitation of the city's downtown parking garage.

TAUNTON — The City Council gave their approval on Tuesday for a demolition contract to raze the dilapidated Star Theater next to the Summer Street City Hall building and voted to allot funding for the rehabilitation of the city’s downtown parking garage.

The council was also set to hear from a Taunton group dedicated to bringing a skate park to the city, part of an effort that was blocked by the city’s Historic District Commission in 2011, after the project received a grant that would have funded it.

The Brockton-based JDC Demolition company was awarded a $635,555 contract to take down the old Star Theater, long known as an eyesore in the center of the city, which was wrested from the ownership of Raynham’s Michael O’Donnell last September.

JDC had the lowest of three bids submitted to the city. City Councilor Jeanne Quinn questioned why the highest bid of $2.32 million submitted by McConnell Enterprises carried such a large price tag. But Al Hanscom, of the Norwood-based Beta Group engineering firm, told her that it was related to the equipment the companies owned and not a lack of quality on the part of JDC.

City Councilor David Pottier asked how quickly demolition could begin and was told by Hanscom that the project could start in a month and be completed within 90 days.

“We asked them to get started quickly,” Hanscom said.

The city councilors also voted to approve $1.3 million in bonds for the repair and the rehabilitation of Taunton’s 30-year-old, two-tier downtown parking garage on Leonard Street. The city will now send out a request for proposals for the project before selecting a contractor, Quinn said.

A long question-and-answer session with Peter Higgins, chairman of Taunton’s Cable Advisory Commission, also took place, regarding recent problems with the quality of the City Council broadcasts on the local cable access station.

A group of city residents who make up the Taunton Skate Park Committee, as well as supporters including former Taunton Mayor Charles Crowley, were also on the agenda for the meeting. The Taunton Parks, Cemeteries and Public Grounds Department and the city’s law department were expected to give their opinions on the group’s revived efforts to construct a skate park behind the Taunton Police Station and the old City Hall.

The skate park group brought a March 17 letter from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to the meeting that said the state agency does not oppose a skate park being built at the site in addition to the Mill River Park, which was built at the location after the Historic District Commission shot down the skate park effort three years ago.

“Only after it became apparent that construction of the overall park project would be delayed by lengthy and uncertain permitting of the skate park component did we decide to proceed without it,” said the letter written by Kurt Gaertner, manager of the state’s Gateway City Park’s Program, and addressed to the Taunton parks department. “It was our assumption that the skate park could be permitted and built later, as is now contemplated.”

Page 2 of 2 - Since the skate park concept was first shot down, the composition of the Historic District Commission has changed, Crowley said Tuesday night, leaving room for the park’s approval. However, the Taunton Skate Park Committee would now need to find a way to fund the skate park project, which the group said could cost as much as $350,000.

Melissa Thomas, mother of a young skateboarder who was killed by a motorist on Bay Street in 2011, attended Tuesday night’s meeting, but said she expected the project would not get the support it needed.

“If this was a football field or something else, they would approve it immediately,” she said.

Tina Slavick, another member of the Skate Park Committee, said skateboarders need a safe place to practice their sport that doesn’t cost them money.

Anthony Shetter, a professional skateboarder from Taunton, said he was there to support the initiative.

“Taunton should invest in that,” said Shetler, explaining that skateboarding has a positive influence on the lives of youngsters. “Skateboarders are good for the community. I want them to see what skateboarding is. It’s not riff-raff. It’s about problem solving, falling down and getting back up.”